Theodore Watson
Captain Theodore Isaac Watson was a UNSC Navy captain who commanded the [[UNSC Harry S. Truman|UNSC Harry S. Truman]] from 2515 to 2544. Biographical History Early Life Theodore Watson was born on Harvest in 2478 into an abusive family. Despite this, he made high grades in school and eventually traveled to Reach to attend the Naval Academy at age 17. UNSC Service Graduation He graduated from the Naval Academy in the Class of 2499 as salutatorian, and quickly worked his way up through the ranks. He earned the rank of Captain in 2512, at age 34. As Captain of the [[UNSC Harry S. Truman|UNSC Harry S. Truman]] In 2514, the carrier [[UNSC Harry S. Truman|UNSC Florida Keys]] was damaged while fighting Insurrectionists. Watson was given command while the ship was being repaired, and he had the carrier converted to a battleship and renamed the [[UNSC Harry S. Truman|UNSC Harry S. Truman]]. Despite all the high-powered weaponry he had given his ship, he never sent it into battle and instead used it as a patrol craft. During the Human-Covenant War Reaction to the Loss of Harvest In 2531, Watson's home planet of Harvest was lost to the Covenant. Rather than fight the Covenant to avenge the loss of his home, he took even more desperate measures to avoid combat. Battle of New Denver In 2537, while the Truman was on patrol near the Outer Colony of New Denver, a small Covenant fleet appeared 1.5 million kilometers away from the planet. A handful of frigates in orbit moved to defend it, and they requested the help of the Truman in dealing with the threat. Watson launched Longsword single fighters upon arrival in the New Denver system, only to retreat to Slipspace after the Covenant small guns obliterated them in seconds. Within three hours, the Covenant had destroyed the frigates, glassed New Denver, and left the system. The First Court-Martial For exhibiting cowardice and failing in his duties to preserve the human lives on New Denver, High Command ordered for Watson to appear at a court-martial on the planet Thresh. However, in an uncanny twist of fate, the Covenant fleet attacked Thresh on the day of Watson's hearing. This time, the Truman single-handedly fought off the entire fleet (at the cost of its experimental weapons). High Command pardoned Watson for his misdeeds, and Watson resumed patrolling the Outer Colonies. The Second Court-Martial By 2543, all the Outer Colonies had fallen. The Truman was moved to patrol of the Inner Colonies, and was 10 million kilometers away when Admiral Cole started the Battle of Psi Serpentis. Cole ordered the Truman to assist in the battle; however, neither Watson nor his slightly damaged experimental battleship showed up. He blamed a communications malfunction aboard the Truman for his failure to comply with orders; however, further investigation revealed that the radio aboard the Truman never broke down and the report that it had was forged by Watson himself. HighCom court-martialed him for dereliction of duty and falsifying official records, and Watson was dishonorably discharged in 2544. Civilian Life Watson eventually moved to Reach, where he lived peacefully until 2552. Death In 2552, during the Fall of Reach, the AI in the city Watson lived in began warning the inhabitants of an approaching Covenant army and telling them to evacuate. All of the city's inhabitants began to move towards the spaceports, and civilian transports made ready to evacuate. Watson noticed the Covenant army advancing towards a spaceport and, thinking quickly, jumped into a car and attempted to run over their infantry. While the Covenant were distracted, the transports lifted the civilians off to safety. Enraged, the Covenant used their tanks' plasma mortars to melt Watson and the car into glass. Upon hearing about his heroism, High Command held a memorial service in his honor. Category:Echoverse